We regret to inform you of the sudden passing of our precious Susan Marie on 07 June 2016.
She is survived by her children, Alanna and Dorian, her husband Dave, all of Armstrong; her sister, Barbara Pittman (Kelly) and Barbara’s children, Melissa (Bobby Mitchell) and their children, Ethan, Mekhi, and baby girl Aaliyah; Samantha (Cory), Andrea and their father Peter; brother Robert Brooke (Renee) and their children, Megan, Breanna, Jaden and Jacob; Susan’s father, Robert Austin Bricker of Sechelt; her mother and stepdad, Linda Bricker and Irvine Bailey of Vernon. She also is survived by her Aunt Dorothy Salonick in Augusta, Ga; cousins Lee Dickenson (Shawna) in Atlanta and Debbie Gray (Barry) in South Carolina; Aunt Shirley Bricker, cousins Laura Schmidt and Cheryl Walton in the US along with many second cousins.
Susan was born in Vancouver on 3 October 1967. She graduated from Seaton High School in Vernon in 1986, and went on to work in Calgary. She worked for a large oil company for many years starting as receptionist moving up to Secretary to the Vice President/Inside Sales Secretary. She moved on to Sun MicroSystems and Hewlett Packard and became a certified reseller.
During that time she married and took time off to raise her two children. She always loved the arts and painting, and merging that with her experience with sales and marketing, she started her own home-based business and moved on to developing her skills into more advanced painting techniques and faux finishing. She did beautiful decorative work and murals. She and Dave renovated two homes where she gained extensive knowledge of construction from pouring the foundation to roofing. She also loved music and was taking singing lessons.
Since moving to Vernon, Susan started her own painting business “Susan Weeks Painted House” and also “Okanagan Sun Shade Sails”. She was voted “Best Painter in the Okanagan” by Best of the Okanagan survey two years in a row. She was also the first woman to be featured on the cover of the “Pro Painter” magazine. She was a beautiful artist and specialized in painting children’s murals as well as homes inside and out. We all are so proud of her beautiful work as shown on her website.
She became involved with the Vernon & District Minor Football Association because of Dorian’s love of the game. She was Secretary, and this year wore the treasurer’s hat as well. She and her good friend, Leanne Ehman, made sure the young players were able to participate in the Vernon Winter Carnival by making and decorating their float last year.
Susan had a wonderful sense of humor, a laugh that made you laugh too, a loving heart, a generous nature, and was a thoughtful and devoted mother, daughter and sister. We can’t imagine life without her.
She was cremated after having donated her organs, and we’ve been told as many as 12 people are benefiting from her blessed gift. If you’d like to help with funeral and other expenses, a Susan Weeks gofundme account was set up by a friend and the family would be ever so grateful as Susan was the sole breadwinner of her young family. Also, the Dulux Paint store on 27th is accepting donations on the family’s behalf. A service of remembrance will be held at a later date.